We have just had a fortnight in Camelford with no internet access and an intermittant mobile signal very relaxing....until wednesday of the second week a text from no.1 son in the USA to say Nat west had stopped his bank card and then a few hours later no.2 son in Berlin with a very bad stomach bug. We then spent along time on the phone trying to sort things out, suddenly back to reality.

I don't find no internet or phone relaxing at all. Its a complete pain. It's how I bank, check addresses and directions, get weather reports and information on local activities, contact friends and relations and arrange to meet up at said places of interest, take and post pictures to other relatives and friends, look up cooking times for quail eggs and a recipe for bread and butter pudding, consult my latest knitting pattern and make notes on modifications and read and listen to books, audio books and radio programmes. And that's just in the last few days - I hardly ever phone anybody, though!

I don't find no internet or phone relaxing at all. Its a complete pain. It's how I bank, check addresses and directions, get weather reports and information on local activities, contact friends and relations and arrange to meet up at said places of interest, take and post pictures to other relatives and friends, look up cooking times for quail eggs and a recipe for bread and butter pudding, consult my latest knitting pattern and make notes on modifications and read and listen to books, audio books and radio programmes. And that's just in the last few days - I hardly ever phone anybody, though!

Ditto - also I can reply to e-mails from a remote field while waiting for a water tank to fill up, but phoning would be a pain in the backside in that situation as you'd ring, there'd be no answer, so you'd wait, and then just as you started to drive home, or get on with something, they'd ring you back and talk for half an hour. Also, I can get in at 10pm or later and start on the e-mail/internet - trying ringing folk at that time, especially businesses, and you don't have a lot of luck.